Gilborn from Norway
Several sources indicate a Gilborn family originating in Norway:
- 25 year old Ole Gilburn, born in Norway, on the muster list of 'F' Company of the 1st Regiment of the Minnesota Volunteers during the Civil War (1861);
- The United States censuses from 1910 to 1940 show a Gilborn family in Williams County, North Dakota, with the head of the family, Lars Gilborn, giving his birthplace as Norway;
- "Under Eight Flags (Vol.2)", published by the Milk River Historical Society describes (p.855) the lives of Nels and Agnes Gilborn which begins:
Nels Gilborn was born in Voss, Norway. As a young man he and three of his brothers came to Canada in 1911. ... Nels stayed in Canada but his brothers went to the United States..."
Searching through the same birth register revealed a number of other children born to the parents:
Jörgen (Entry No. 160) in 1874, surname Gjelbaarne;
Ole (No.118) in 1876;
Britha (No. 36) in 1878;
Ingerid (No. 26) in 1883, died 5 days later;
Ammund (No. 23) in 1887;
and (in the subsequent register) Ivar (No. 2) in 1890.
Searching marriage registers found the found the wedding on 7 July 1874 (No. 15) of Amund Jorgensen Gilbaarene and Ingerid Olsdatter in Vang, Oppdal County.
The Digital Archive site also has transcriptions of some of the Norwegian censuses, and the 1875 census shows Ammund Gjorgenson with his wife (transcribed as Ingerid Olavsdatter) and first son living in a house or farm called Gilbaarene in Voss. The 1900 census shows Amund Gilbaarne with wife Ingerid Olsdatter and children Lars, born 1884; Amund, born 1886; and Ivar, born 1890, who were living in Voss, still at Gilbaarene. It would appear that this is the source of their surname, (and hence they will not link to any of the other Gilborn families on these pages.) There is a detailed discussion of this family and its wider links on the Amundson/Amundsen forum at www.norwayheritage.com, and identifies Ole Amundson of Williams, North Dakota, who had been born in Voss, Norway in 1877, as the Ole born to Amund Jorgensen and Ingerid Olsdatter. This is NOT the Ole Gilborn who served in the Minnesota Volunteers, who was considerably older - in fact closer to the age of Amund Jorgenson.
Amund Jorgenson's death was recorded as Oddmund Jörgersen Gilbarn on 6 February 1928. The cause of death was given as old age, and he was buried 14 February in Voss. Ingrid is believed to have died in 1938.
The Gilbaarene property - today known as Gilborne - still exists in Voss, and pictures can be seen on www.vossnow.net, e.g. here and here.
Some of the children of Amund and Ingerid kept their patronymic surname, Amundsen (or Amundson), while others kept the surname gained from their home:
- Jörgen emigrated to the United States. In 1900 he and brother Ole were both working as blacksmiths and boarding in an hotel in Norman township, Steele. North Dakota. Jörgen called himself George, and give his immigration date as 1893, This is confirmed by the emigration record from his home parish (Entry No. 23) where his original destination was given as Iowa. He has not been found subsequently.
- Ole also emigrated to the United States, and was with his older brother in 1900. They did not emigrate together however. The census gives Ole's emigration date as 1898, but this cannot be confirmed from the emigration register in Voss, where there is no entry in 1898 or surrounding years. He married Gunhild Nilsdatter Jodock 12 January 1907 in Grand Forks Co., Indiana. Gunhild had been born in Hemsdal, Norway in 1878 and emigrated to the U.S.A. with her parents in 1900. Two Land Patents, each for 160 acres in Williams County, were granted to Gunhild in May 1907. They had six children: Arthur N. in 1908; Lenard in 1911; George A in 1915; Mildred in 1917; Ida L in 1919; and Martin in 1921. They lived in New Home, Williams Co., North Dakota. As the family used the Amundson surname, and these pages are concerned only with the Gilborn name, they have not been followed further. Ole is reported to have died in Seattle in 1962.
- Britha has not been traced after 1910, when she was with her parents and youngest brother at Gilborn, (recorded as Gilbaro), in Voss.
- Nils was know as Nels Gilborn after his emigration from Voss. Most of what is known of him has come from "Under Eight Flags (Vol.2)". This text records he and three brothers coming to Canada in 1911. However, as we have seen, Jörgen and Ole were in the United states long before that. The passenger list for S.S. Empress of Britain records Nels entering Canada in September 1912, where the entry is recorded as "Ret[urne]d Canadian, Bow Island, 4y", so Nels too was there before 1911. This would seem to be confirmed by the failure to find him in the 1910 Norway census. However, he may not have been in Canada all this time, for a Land Patent was granted in 1908 to Nils A. Gilborn for 160 acres in North Dakota.
He married Agnes Campion in 1922. It was her third marriage. Her maiden name is unkown, but she had previously married first Martin Herrington and then Harry Campion. She had three children with her first husband, followed by two with her second. They were followed by three children with Nels Gilborn.
Her children with Harry Campion, son Daniel Henry and daughter Loretta, adopted the surname Gilborn. Daniel married Eva Thompson (nee Darling) and had four sons. He died in 1973. Loretta married firt Chuck Thompson and then Gordon Sharpe. She had a son and daughter before dying in 1986.
Nels and Agnes had a daughter Phyllis who is believed to have died aged 8, and a son Leonard who died aged 4. Their youngest child, daughter Marie Donna, married William G. Trouesdale 29 August 1953 in Grand Falls, Montana. The family moved to Meridian, Cayuga Co., N.Y. in 1967. She was killed in July 1970 when her station wagon left the road and hit a tree. She had six daughters and a son.
Agnes Gilborn died in 1961, and Nels in 1966, both in Calgary, Alberta. - Ingerid was born 30 March 1883, but died on 5 April the same year.
- Lars was the fourth brother to emigrate to the U.S.A. or Canada. Like Nels, he used the surname Gilborn. He entered the U.S. in 1909, and in 1910 was a hired hand working for fellow Swede Matilda Ashley in Williams Co., North Dakota. Lars marriage date is unknown, but in 1920 he was living in New Home Township, Williams, N.D., with wife Mary and 9 month old son Alvin. Also present was his mother-in-law, Sofia Syverson. Two daughters, Sylvia and Lorene, were born in 1921 and 1925. No Land Patents have been found for Lars - did he take over those granted to Nils when Nils moved to Canada? Mary died in 1930 and was buried in St. Pauls Cemetery, Wildrose, Williams N.D. Lars died in 1964 and was buried with his wife.
Alvin Gilborn married Florella Dunham in 1943 and they had one son. Florella died in 1997, Alvin in 2010. His obituary in online, and includes all that is known of his sisters. - Ammund Amundsen Gilbaarne was born in 1886. It is not known when he entered the U.S.A. but recorded as Amund A Gilbaren lodging in Calumet, Gary, Lake County in Indiana in 1940. He became a naturalised American citizen in November that year, when his address was given as 832 Washington St., Gary. It is not known when he returned to Norway, but his death was recorded in Årstadt, Norway 26 Jun 1965 as Amund A Gilborn. He was stated to be a widower, though his wife's name and their date of marriage is unknown. He was stated to be single. aged 54 in the 1940 census.
- Ivar was Amund and Ingerid's last child, born in 1890.He was still with his parents and sister in Voss in 1910. Nothing is known of him after that.
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